This invention relates to a lawn mower, and more particularly to a lawn mower having a mower unit vertically movably connected to the front of a vehicle body through lift links capable of vertical pivoting movement. The mower unit is supported switchable between a generally vertical position to which the mower unit is pivotable upward relative to the lift links to have its bottom plane facing forward away from the vehicle body, and a generally horizontal position to which the mower unit is pivotable downward relative to the lift links to have its bottom plane facing down.
A conventional example of such lawn mower is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” H3-224402 (page 9 and FIG. 5).
With this type of lawn mower, the mower unit is switchable to the generally vertical position to have its bottom plane facing forward away from the vehicle body. In this position, while remaining connected to the lift links, the mower unit may be cleaned or inspected.
With the conventional technique, because of the position of the center of gravity of the mower unit, a pivoting movement simply relying on the weight of the mower unit may result in only a small pivoting angle, thereby failing to set the bottom of the mower unit to a position fully facing forward. Even if an attempt is made to pivot the mower unit further upward, the mower unit may prove too heavy to raise. Thus, the bottom of the mower unit cannot be set to a position fully facing forward.